Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-09-30

WOmeh's Rights Auccesston IN
Guardianship.

(1teftatnsItp.
lieutenant Schwa,ka IN tao independently
Livery time a man wants to under
take a business transaction he takes his
wife along With him to ratily or veto
the bargain, and should she be absent
at the time she may afterwarl put in
an importance and upset the whole
slipiL Funniest Of all, the same
equivalent Transactions oil the women
are not subject to the same super
Nisng power OF The men. who have
nothing to say regarding the bargains
o. their wives and daughters, except
% foot the bill. il any compensation 10
promised 10y the squaws that the men
are expected to fill, as work, utensils
they can make, or even money, where
they can get il from white men aud un-
ddstand It's value | have known seye-
ral instances where the men have closed
certain bargains, only to fad them
opened again when the absent vile
put in an appearance. As white
men are not very liable to undo
bargain which they think il
to their advantage, they seldom ac-
uicsce in the demand OF tue women
IN cancelling the contract, anl some Of
the worst personal misunderstanding
between the two races have occurred on
this account. J, Of course, do not
know how the 7 iinkit man Jared after
he got home from such bargain but
think We can all imagine pretty well.
Nothing was more eXaspcTating 10 me,
at times, upon my two expeditions into
AlasAa-in 1883 aad lSSj-when L
came across some man from whom |
wanted TO buy some tiiling article or to
employ for shOIt time than to have 10
start out fer the INDIAN village, probably
mile or two distant, 10 consult LIS
wife ahout il, or 70 bring her to me to
talk tie matter over.
Then the succession to the chief
taluship Of the tribe is a most singular
one, based also on wOnan's rights"
or some thing akin to it. Neither the
eldest son of the king and queen nor
the chief and bis wife, nor, in fact, any
Of the sons and daughters succeed their
father TO the head of the tribe when
he dies, but some one of the nearest
male relatives of the queen is made
chief wien her husband dies. Ii is easy
to see that this curious and round about
method Of handing down the sccptre
may transfer the crown to anybody in
the tribe, and that there can be- no such
thing as Il true royal succession or
here ditary descent OF the chief power.
When the parents, or either OF them,
have died oil OF the effects that they
possessed descend by inheritance on
the mothers side, none Of the descen-
dants OF the father receiving anything
ont OF the estate. One would think
that 1t would lead tOsOme curious mud
dies, but somehow they manage TO keep
il straight
The same as among al sayages, tho
men have often two or three wives, and
IL rare cases even more butthe women,
not TO be outdone in the matrimonial
line, have in few cases-two or three
Of which ] know OF personally--two
husbands. They are nearly always
rich women, who have had great deal
left them by inheritance, or who had
made large amount themselves
for, as l have said, the women do
nearly all the businessman who
can afford such expensive luxuries.
One klinkit woman, sitka woman,
who went by the name of Mrs.
Tom among the white people, and who
had already one husband, bought
another, slave, for about 81, 900 in
goods and cha,tels, and when 1 saw
the two together afterward l think no
was the best-looking one Of the pair.
When man and woman marry they
Try and adopt boy and girl. Ii the
man dies the boy becomes the woman's
husband, and il the woman dies the
girl becomes the wife OF the man.